A Wet Start to Sunday Skiing, but the Next Few Days Like NICE!

Old Man Winter Seems to be saying, "Let’s see how nasty we can make things" this morning. The temps are near 40° across the state and we’ve had 24 hours of foggy, drizzly weather and now this morning Beech Mountain is recording AVERAGE wind speeds of 45mph with one gust at 1:30am this morning that topped out at 86.3 mph.

Holiday Skiers – don’t fret because the skies will clear later today and the sun will dominate the next few days and snowmaking temps are forecasted for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights…and we may even see a bit of light snow flurries on Christmas Day.

LOOKING AT THE GLASS HALF FULL…

Although our mountains have not suffered from the drought to the degree that many in the areas from Alabama to Tennessee have, we still could use some rain (OR SNOW!).

The week ahead should provide for good Holiday skiing and snowboarding (or Ice Skating and Tubing) at your favorite ski area as all will be blasting the snowguns and pushing some snow around and grooming some nice corduroy for us to ride on.

Monday through Wednesday look like the primo days and then we’re watching what could be some light, underdeveloped snow (that’s a snow lover’s term for rain). It doesn’t appear to be the "keep-you-from-skiing" kind of precip at this time.

CONDITIONS TODAY… in a word this morning – WET. Using a few more words, wet, wet, wet and some thin coverage thrown in.

Justin up at Hawksnest showed his "glass half full" take on things this morning. he wrote, "We have groomed, soft conditions with a foggy overcast this morning. Beginners, this is excellent snow on which to learn; this snow is forgiving. We are open for skiing snowboarding and snowtubing with a Nighthawk session: 6pm to midnight tonight. We rent ski bibs that keep you dry."

He IS CORRECT though…this is good snow to learn on.

The snowmaking temps hitting Sunday evening are coming in at just the right time for all of the ski areas, and Hawksnest and Ski Beech in particular as those two got a later start on snowmaking than the other areas and their bases are simply thinner right now. Expect some thin coverage and bare spots at those two, as well as Wolf Ridge.

There’s some thinning areas beginning to show at Sugar as well, but really Appalachian, Cataloochee and Sugar look pretty nice if we can dodge the rain drops today.

So, keep your chin up…if you have travel plans to ski in North Carolina for the upcoming days…the sun will begin to show later today, the mercury will fall, the snowguns will blast away and there should be some good ski and snowboarding happening across the state for the next few days!

Mike is the Editor and founder of SkiSoutheast.com, SkiNC.com and ResortCams.com. Since September 1996 he has posted close to 14,000 posts, articles, photos and videos promoting all of the ski areas of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.Mike is the father of four daughters, is an avid skier and enjoys golf, tennis, kayaking and hiking in the mountains. Winter snowsports and Summer boating on Watauga Lake are among his favorite pastimes.

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